2012/12/18

As the title suggests I really haven't done much this month. I re-injured myself and have been spending 5 hours a day 5 days a week restrengthening, working out and getting back into shape. I did buy a new Cannon Power Shot camera and am looking forward to taking more pics. Also stopped by my Favorite local Hobby store and picked up some books I've been eying all year.

First up, Famous Russian Aircraft: Mikoyan Mig-15 by Yefim Gordon and Dimitri Komissarov.

Now I LOVE Migs. My favorite being the Mig-23/27 Family; and I have a great fondness for anything on the air war over Korea, so getting this was a great treasure. I have previous volumes on the Mig-21 Fishbed and Su-27 Flanker and have to say, these are the be all, end all books on these aircraft. The entire history of each aircraft is encompassed in these HUGE volumes. Development, variants, usage, countries used as well as full photo coverage of cockpit layout and many technical and line drawings. I hope they continue this series as it's of great worth to modelers and history buffs alike.

The next book, Soviet Air Power in World War 2 by Yefim Gordon.

Now out of print, I was luck that my buddy John at Tiger Hobbies let me have it for the cover price as it is now valued at $450.00 Again this is a wonderful volume of the Soviet air arm in World war 2. Illustrated with many beautiful line drawings and B/W photos, this books has every Soviet aircraft used in WWII as well as tactics, organization, history of lend lease aircraft and use of the Naval air arm. Well worth $75.00

Third in the pile, The Soviet Soldier of World War 2 byPhilippe Rio.

I have to say I love these books by Histoire & Collections. I also have volumes like this on US and British/Canadian Paras, USMC, Canadian Soldiers and German Solders in World War II. These volumes contain WONDERFUL pictures of period uniforms and equipment, even down to food stuffs contained in personal packs. Full descriptions of uniforms, equipment and insignia is also provided. I wish H&S would begin doing contemporary period uniform books as well as WWII.

Last but not least, Naval Aviation in the Korean War by Warren Thompson.

This is a short history of the US Navy's involvement in the Korean war. Lots of historical text and many color period pictures. Of great value is the list of Air Groups and info on where and with what they were assigned. Also a list of losses is included. As mentioned about my affinity with the Korean war, I can't wait to get into this book!

Well that's it, as the year comes to a close, I wish all of you and yours and Happy Holiday, Marry Christmas and Happy New Year. I can assure you there will be many battles happening on the kitchen table on the 25th thanks to the wife's purchase of the X-wing Miniatures game for me for Christmas. Look forward to some more Marines coming up as well as some Korean air war stuff and some After Action Reports of the X-wing game.

2012/11/04

Well, kinda. If you recall about 3 weeks ago I started working on Peter Pig's 15mm USMC and after much procrastination, figuring out how to paint the rifles and goggles, I'm 99% done. Here are some pics from my crappy camera. These pic certainly don't do them justice.

M203 and M-16 Rifleman.

M-16 with ACOG and M249 SAW

M249 and M-16 Gunner.

Squad Leader with M-16.

M-16 Rifleman.

Squad Leader with M-16 ACOG

M249 Gunner.

M203 Gunner.

M203 Gunner.

Not sure if I'm going to add grass and still not sure about the painting of the rifles and the goggles. Comments welcome. Up next British Para's/Marines and USMC with Scrim.

2012/10/18

So, after hobbling home in pain after work on Tuesday, I decided to book off Wednesday and make it a long weekend of recovery for me. While taking it easy I wanted to get some more work done on my USMC project. Here are more pictures of my Peter Pig Marines:

I also decided to try my hand at scrim on a couple helmets:

And for transport I wanted to snaz up Irish Serbs AAV-7A1 by adding the grenade launchers ammo belt to the Cadillac Gage turret and framing for crew storage on the sides.

Still need to do a bit more works I also wanted to add Smoke grenade launchers at the back of the turret , finish the framing and add radio antenna. Also, as all "Tuna Boats" are just covered in gear I have also tried my hand at Backpacks:

Of course it's just a start, but once done, I'll cast them up so as to make things easy next time round.

2012/09/25

Last week I FINALLY got the minis ordered from Flytrap Factory back on August 2nd. Aside from the lengthy delay in shipping, these look great! They remind me of the old Flashpoint Miniaturesdone a few years back in the same neck of the woods, New Zealand. Anyway, lets take a peak:

U.S. Special Operations HMMWV

The Special Operations Humvee comes in white resin with metal bits with a gun shield, 2 crew men, 1 M2 .50 cal. and some extra gear. This is a nice mini, unfortunately mine came with a lot of bubbles all over. Barring that it's a very cool mold and looks very neat with all the kit strewn about the vehicle.

The Royal Marines are VERY nice molds. I am by NO mean an expert on kit, but looks like this set comes with 7 lads with L85A1/2's , 2 L85A1/2 with the 40mm Grenade launcher attached, 2 Minimi's and 1 Afghan interpreter. All rifles are also equipped with the SUSAT optics. All dudes are wearing the Mk. 6 Combat helmet, while 3, one with a radio kit, are bare head.

USMC.

The U.S. Marines are very nice sculpts as well, though in my opinion, not as nice as the Peter PigMarines. In this set you get 8 Devil Dogs with M-16, 2 with M-16/203's and 3 with SAW's. They appear to be wearing the Coyote Outer Tactical Vest.

Doesn't appear to be any communications dudes in this set, nor any indigenous translator like the Royal Marines set

IJB Insurgent Cell

The IJB insurgent cell is basically Taliban, and a variety of armament they do have! With the ubiquitous AK-47's, AKS-74, RPG's you also get 2 RPD's, one SAW and would you believe 2 Lee-Enfields and a DPM!

Merc Rifle squad.

The last set I got was a MERC rifle squad. These dudes wear soviet M 40/60/68 helmets, though there are 3 that look like they have the SPHERA dome. Weapons are again AK-47's, AKS-47, 2 RPG's, 3 RPD's or PKM's and one Dragunov, who is also wearing a Ghillie suit.

All in all, these are good sculpts. They have more of a heroic look like Flames of War mini's. Also detail on some of the weapons is a little soft, and the bubbles on the Humvee were a bit of a let down, but I was happy to finally get these after over a month wait. I look forward to seeing what else Flytrap Factory is going to release in it's "Warfighter" series.

2012/09/14

Some months ago I remember coming across an advertisement for a 28mm M1126 Stryker that would also be produced in 15mm. When my Summer arms build up began that mental note popped up and I started looking for that Stryker, finding it on the Acheson Creations site. Today these little beauties showed up at the post office:

So what do I think? Well the mold is nice with a lot of detail, some a little dull while others very crisp. The big plus is all the open hatches and separately molded hatches.. Also, the crew figure is a nice touch. The M151 Protector system weapons system looks nice and is very delicate, so much so that even the smoke launchers are molded on as well. The armament is an option of M2 Browning .50cal. or Mk.19 Grenade MG .

M151 Protector system with Browning M2 .50 Cal or Mk19 Grenade Gun.

The only problem I have are the wheels, In my opinion they seem a little frail Width wise. How does it scale up? It's a bit lacking in Length, approximately 2mm. Height to the Protector system is 2.6cm, which is spot on and Width is on the mark at 2.7cm.

Do these wheels seem small to you?

As I don't have QRF's Stryker I can't compare the two, but Acheson Creations Stryker will be a hard customer to beat. Now to start looking for photo etch slat armor for this beast.